WELCOME TO AVALANCHE STUDIOS

Avalanche Studios is an independent AAA developer dedicated to creating huge open worlds, full of
explosive, emergent gameplay. You probably know us as the creator of the Just Cause franchise, with Just
Cause 3 being our most recent title. We're also the developer of Mad Max, which was released in
September of 2015. We created the critically acclaimed XBLA/PSN twin stick shooter Renegade Ops, we
manage more than 6 million players in the online world of theHunter, and are currently hard at work on
several future projects. Here’s a look into our world.

Stockholm

You wouldn't guess it by looking at our games but Avalanche Studios was founded and still operates
in Sweden, as far from California as from Kyoto. Our three story studio is located in the heart of
Stockholm, a developer hot spot and consistently voted one of the most beautiful cities in the
world.

New York

It's the Greatest City in the World, and we're smack down in the middle of it! Since 2011, we have
been making games in the one place everyone told us we couldn't. We love it here. Click and we'll
show you why.

THREE STUDIOS. TWO CITIES. ONE COMPANY.

There’s almost 4000 miles between our studios in New York and Stockholm but we work hard to make
Avalanche Studios feel like one company, inside and out. In Stockholm, we are next door neighbors
with Expansive Worlds, our subsidiary that is creating and managing the online world of theHunter.
Across the three studios and two cities, we share each challenge and celebrate each success as one
company.

Avalanche Studios exists to create worlds without limits.

Linus Blomberg and Christofer Sundberg founded Avalanche Studios over a decade ago, and still run
the company. Creating amazing open world games remains their main passion and focus.

a decade of independence

Avalanche Studios was founded in 2003, and has since established itself on the forefront of open
world game development. Following the successful debut of
Just Cause
in 2006, a new studio called
Expansive Worlds
was founded to focus on socially connected online games. Its premiere title,
theHunter
was released in 2009 and currently has more than 6 million hunters signed up.
Just Cause 2,
Avalanche Studios' breakthrough release, was released in 2010 and has since sold more than 6
million copies. The studio has also released acclaimed twin stick shooter game
Renegade Ops
and post-apocalyptic open-world action game
Mad Max.
In 2011, Avalanche Studios expanded to North America by opening a studio in Soho, New York. It
was here that the highly anticipated follow-up to
Just Cause 2
was developed until its widely celebrated release in late 2015. Avalanche Studios currently
employs 250 people across its Stockholm and New York studios. It continues to be owned and
managed by its founders.

meet the avalanchers

THOMAS KLINGSTRÖM, Art Director

As Art Director, Thomas is responsible for the artistic vision of a given project, overseeing
development of concept art and how it gets implemented into the game. On a daily basis, he works
closely with the Game Director, supporting him/her with the greater vision of the project. In addition,
Thomas manages the Art teams, which means leading and mentoring other Artists. In the long term,
this work is instrumental in helping Avalanche Studios grow and evolve its internal talent pool.

Do you remember your first contact with games?

As a kid my best friend who lived next door had a NES. I remember it as an amazing little
gray box where you could push a power button and all of a sudden magical things happened on
a TV screen. After a lot of negotiation I convinced my parents that a Nintendo console
wouldn’t give you rectangular eyes and I still remember the day when my mom picked me up
from day care and we headed out to pick up a NES. It was a beautiful day.

What is your background?

I have a Bachelor in digital art. I started my professional career in console game
development, moved on to advertisement followed by indie game development. And now I have
found my way back to console games, so it feels like coming full circle.

What inspires you?

Art in general and games in particular. I believe that we have only seen the tip of the
iceberg of what games could be, and being a part of that development is more than
exciting.

Which games have you worked on?

Race Pro, Terminator Salvation, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, a canned AAA game and a couple of
advertisement and iOS games. One of the iOS games is called Warp Rush and I’m extra happy
how that one turned out.

What was your first impression of Avalanche Studios?

I’ve always been a sucker for open world games and as a Swede I’ve kept my eyes on and
respected Avalanche Studios as a developer. It was obviously very exciting to join the
company! What particularly struck me when joining the team here in NYC was how humble and
open minded the tone of the company was. I believe that attitude remains one of our core
strengths.

What do you like about working here?

As a fairly small and independent developer, having the ability to produce huge games with
such a solid game experience. That to me simply is amazing and such a grow ground for
creativity.

Which are your favorite games?

Grim Fandango and Tetris.

What are your interests outside of work?

I like to build stuff, or at least work on something with my hands. I find it a very
fulfilling feeling to work on something physical in contrast to my profession which
obviously tends to be all digital.

YAN KE, Gameplay Animator

In bringing a game to life, the Animator’s contribution is invaluable. Yan Ke, who most recently worked
on Just Cause 3 as a Gameplay Animator, is a perfect example. During pre-production of a game, she
comes up with ideas of how a character might move according to their personality and physical traits,
coupled with the gameplay requirements. She then works with the wider team, receive their feedback
and revise until they move on to the next step. Once in production, Yan polishes the animations until
they reach their final, releasable quality. Not one to be confined to her screen, Yan is also a mocap
operator and actress. On days when the team needs quick testing, she does not hesitate to jump into
one of the mocap suits around the New York studio and act out how a character should move.

What inspires you?

It depends on what I am currently focusing on. I had a really fun time working on Just Cause 3 DLC:
Mech Land Assault because I got to watch a lot of Japanese anime references. I analyzed my
references to see what we could adapt to the gameplay and conceptual needs, which in turn inspired
new ideas for our Mech. For the open world of Just Cause 3, I take inspiration from observation of
people in real life, films as well as other games. Discussing character movement with programmers
and designers can also be very inspiring. I get a lot of new ideas just by bouncing mine off my
teammates and seeing what sticks.

What is your background?

I got my bachelor degree in computer science in Taiwan. After that, I came to New York to study
computer art focusing on animation. I started out freelancing in broadcast, working on tv commercials
and film animation. One of the studios I freelanced at, started working with AAA game studios, and
that is how I began my career in games.

Which games have you worked on?

I have worked as a Character Animator on the Rock Band series, Green Day: Rock Band, The
Beatles: Rock Band, Homefront, and my proudest game title, Just Cause 3!

What was your first impression of Avalanche Studios before or when you joined?

I was thrilled to join a studio that makes such epic open world games, especially in New York! I was
really impressed by the quality and scale of Avalanche Studios’ games. The passion can be seen in
our work and heard throughout the studio as people vigorously debate what is best for our games.
There's a sense of belonging and genuine camaraderie on our team, all of us working toward the
same goal. It is just awesome.

What do you like about working here?

There are so many things I like! I like knowing that I am free to express my opinion, and that my
opinion contributes to the game and Avalanche’s culture. I like the close collaboration between
Animators, Programmers and Designers. Seeing the game from different perspectives is important. I
always learn something new by talking to my teammates. It makes my animation better suited for the
game. It is a treat to work with people that are really passionate. Everyone is so focused on making an
incredible game that they are willing to go above and beyond if it makes our game better. Avalanche
gives a lot of opportunities for employees to explore and develop different aspects of their talents. Last
but not least, people here have a life outside of work! Avalanche values your off time and having the
time to focus on your other aspects of life can provide inspiration and new ideas for our games. It is
truly rare in the industry.

What makes working almost exclusively with sandbox games a unique experience?

Sandbox games are unique for their non-linear gameplay. The player can choose his/her own
adventure! What we are creating is a world for players to explore, or more specifically, creative and
unique ways of blowing things up! We create this world where anything can happen and let the players
decide how they want to approach the game. It is so satisfying to watch videos of players just pulling
off the most insane and unimaginable stunts. We go through a similar process when we create these
worlds. We have to be creative and come up with efficient ways of solving things. It's very rewarding
when you see all the things in the game are finally working together to create this fun experience.

Do you remember your first contact with games?

Yes! I was in elementary school, and I broke open my piggy bank to get a Nintendo Famicom!
It started when my brother came home one day and asked me if I was willing to pitch in some money
to get a used Nintendo Famicom. Together we had enough money and bought this red and white
plastic box along with a cartridge with 20 games in it. The next day my brother’s friends came over and
I had my first game night. I remember fighting with them to get the controller. Those were good times!

Which are your favorite games?

Galaxian, Mario Bros, Street Fighter, the Far Cry series and Just Cause 3!

What are your interests outside of work?

You mean besides playing games? (laugh) I love discovering new parts of the city that I haven’t been
before with my 17-month old baby. I enjoy traveling, organizing local community activities, watching
films, and good tv shows.

What are your best suggestions for someone trying to break into the games industry?

For Animators that want to break into the game industry, it is very important to have a solid
understanding of body mechanics. Do your research on the company you want to apply to, and create
a reel that is in tune with their animation style. Start to play games if you haven’t! Be more aware of
the game control and the AI response, start to analyze what you like and what you don’t like, and how
you would improve them.

GISELA MALMSTEN, Office Manager

Gisela Malmsten has one of the most diverse job descriptions out of anyone in Avalanche Studios. On
paper, she "organizes and supervises the administrative activities that facilitate the office". But
in reality, she also arranges gift-wrapping and pumpkin carving contests, arranges Monday breakfasts
and Friday beers, sends weapon replicas all over the world only to have to explain herself to
customs officials later, goes piñata searching all over Stockholm for a spontaneous Cinco de Mayo
celebration and orders 200 Kinder eggs to make her colleagues smile on a regular Tuesday... and then
some!

What inspires you?

I'm passionate about life and food. There is honestly no food I've ever tried that I didn't like. I'm
inspired by people who follow their dreams and don't care what others think of them.

What is your background?

I studied art and photography in school. I was actually applying for another job when the recruiter
interviewing me said she was going to work for a video game company and asked if I wanted to come
with her. So I used the famous shrimp sandwich (i.e happenstance) to enter the gates of the game
industry. I worked at Dice for four years before joining Avalanche Studios in early 2011.

Which games have you worked on?

I am on the credits list for Battlefield: Bad Compay 1 and 2, Mirror's Edge, and Battlefield 3 for
ordering overtime food, making certain everyone had coffee and making people happy in general. Then
there is Mad Max and of course some as of yet unannounced Avalanche Studios projects!

What was your first impression of Avalanche Studios?

A friendly company and which was well spoken of in the game industry. And boy - was I right. This is
by far the nicest and funniest people I have ever worked with. Avalanche Studios truly feels like a
"second home" and coming here every day is like hanging out with friends. We have an atmosphere of
respect, humor and love. Working here, I hear laughter all day long - I love that!

Do you remember your first contact with games?

My dad bought me a Nintendo Entertainment System and I played a lot of Super Mario Bros and Duck
Tales.

Which are your favorite games?

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. I played it over and over again in 1992 and I remember it as
the most amazing game.

What are your interests outside of work?

As you can probably tell from my inspirations, cooking and dining! But also art, music and film.

OSKAR BLOMBERG, Studio Technical Art Director

You know those rare people who have several distinctly different, complementing skill sets? Oskar
Blomberg is one of them. As a Technical Art Director he works with visual programmers, technical
artists, lighting and VFX artists to improve the visuals of our games. Oskar likes to work hands-on,
so he does a lot of lighting, visual effects and environmental work himself. For Mad Max
specifically, he has set up the day and night cycles, core effects like explosions and fires and
last but not least vehicle VFX. He is also part of the World Team, which entails creating landscape
technology and content.
Oskar says he loves creating "intelligent effects" that not only look good but also behave as
expected in different scenarios using a lot of input from the physics system. At Avalanche Studios,
we have developed PBR (Physical Based Rendering) technique that mimics real world light phenomena.
That’s exactly the kind of thing that gets Oskar excited.

What inspires you?

Creating worlds inspires me, alternate universes for players to experience and explore. To present
the players with an authentic experience, I study the real world constantly; “Why are the trees
shaped like this? How does the light scatter in this volume of semi transparent surfaces? What
happens to an explosion when the fuel is traveling at high speeds?” Fascinating stuff. I don't do
this because I want to copy the real world, mind you. That would be boring. I do it because it helps
players believing in what they see, even if what they see is out of this world. I want them to
suspend their disbelief when a huge demon crawls up from the underworld. It should feel as if that
demon is actually burning with real fire! I want them to wander through a forest labyrinth made out
of huge mushrooms that look so real, they’ll imagine how slimy their surfaces would feel if they
could reach out and touch them.

What is your background?

I have been working at Avalanche Studios my whole career. I was hired as a level designer to help out
with the Just Cause pitch that started it all, and the rest is video game history. During my years
here, I have been working as a Level Designer, Game Designer, 3D Artist, VFX Artist, Lighting
Artist, Art Director and now finally Technical Art Director. I just can't keep my fingers away from
all the things I enjoy doing!
I'm the youngest of the Blomberg brothers (Viktor Blomberg, Senior Programmer and Linus Blomberg,
Co-Founder and CTO) so creating games is something I grew up with. My brothers are both superb
programmers, but I was always more into how the games should look and feel. I was creating lots of
pen and paper rpg games as a kid, as well as blowing up all our toys with homemade fuel bombs. I
guess that’s where my faith was sealed. Now I am blowing virtual shit up for a living.

Which games have you worked on?

Just Cause as a Level Designer and Scripter. Just Cause 2 as Lighting and VFX Artist. Come to think
of it, I was the only one so I guess I was the lead! theHunter as Lighting and Environment Artist. I
destroyed my mom’s garden to photograph all the textures for that one. On Renegade Ops I was the Art
Director and Principal VFX and Lighting Artist, but also ended up doing some game design and sound
directing. Currently, I am the Technical Art Director on Mad Max, but I’m also on a few unannounced
projects!

What was your first impression of Avalanche Studios?

Well, back then we were 16 people in a small shared office. No one knew who we where. But even back
then, we wanted to go big in terms of game content as well as recognition ­­– we have always been
trying to cleverly create big open world experiences using quite small teams. When I think back to
those times, my impression of the team actually matches the core values we use internally since a
few years, which are Courage, Passion and Craftsmanship.

What do you like about working here?

The people and the projects! I know it sounds cliché, but we really are like a big family.

What was your first contact with games?

My brothers and I built this space ship in the closet when I was a kid. As the cockpit window we had
David Braben’s Elite running on a BBC. We modified the joystick to add extra buttons placed by a
second monitor at the back. Being the youngest of the brothers, that was my place in the crew. I was
the gunner.

Which are your favorite games?

My best gaming memories come from the Elite series and Daggerfall (the prequel to the popular Skyrim,
Oblivion and Morrowind games). I always enjoyed exploring those epically sized worlds!

What are your interests outside of work?

I'm a dad and a husband, and I really like spending time with my family. I also like to grow my
beard, play heavy metal drums and do gardening work!

PIM HOLFVE, CEO

Avalanche Studios' next door neighbor is also its subsidiary. Expansive Worlds has been iterating on
the most realistic hunting simulation in the world, simply called theHunter, since the release in 2009.
Pim Holfve was the CEO of that company for a few years, until he also became the (first ever!) CEO of
Avalanche Studios in spring of 2015. On a daily basis, Pim is focusing on the big picture stuff, like how
we can improve the company’s current games, not to mention create our next big hit.

Do you remember your first contact with games?

I do. As a kid I was a pinball junky, but my first "console experience" came when my father brought
home a Magnavox Odyssey 2 in the early 80's. I was hooked. When the Commodore 64 was released I
saved up money and bought one as soon as I could.

What is your background?

My initial plan was to play for the New York Rangers, but since that never even came close to
happening, I decided to do the next best thing ­– to spend my college years painting pretty
pictures. So with a degree in Visual Arts I started my professional career as a Graphic Designer.
Since then I've worked my way through advertising, internet tv, running my own company and ended up
making games at King. After King I moved over to EA working to work on their F2P titles.

Which games have you worked on?

Back in the late 90's I worked on a few games made for banks that wanted to teach people how to run a
business. I was producing graphics for these games and also doing bits of programming. At King I was
involved in the production of countless games and after that I've worked on Battlefield Heroes,
Battlefield Play4Free and most recently theHunter at Expansive Worlds.

What is your passion?

Daily life and people in general is what intrigues me the most and also inspires me. How people act
and interact with each other – and inanimate objects – is both puzzling and inspiring. Having two
relatively small kids at home also lets me rediscover the excitement of getting to know the
world.

What do you like about working at Expansive Worlds and Avalanche Studios?

Avalanche Studios is all about making games. The art of game making and making sure the game will be
a great experience for the players always comes first. I think this is pretty unique in this day and
age. Most studios seem to be in the business to make a quick buck or ­– to use industry jargon –
"milking whales". At Expansive Worlds we are, quite uniquely, developing our live game theHunter in
close collaboration with our community, making our players key members of our dev team.

Which are your favorite games?

One of the games that affected me quite a lot when it came out was Silent Hill, but during the same
time I was hooked on Tekken 3, Colin McRae Rally and Wipeout. In recent days it's usually my kids
who dictate what's being played at home and although I can enjoy a Lego game with them every now and
then, I'd rather shoot some bad guys in the face.

What are your interests outside of work?

Right now my big passion is trap shooting, so I try to spend as much time as possible on the shooting
range. I also try to fit in a bit of ice hockey in the local beer league.

TOBIAS ANDERSSON, Senior Producer

Scheduling, planning, tasking, problem solving and fire fighting. Those are some of the day to day
tasks of a Senior Producer at Avalanche Studios. Tobias Andersson currently works on an
unannounced project, and prior to that had his fingers in the DLC for Just Cause 3, as well as the
Wasteland of Mad Max. Apart from constructing clear and achievable production goals, Tobias
creates milestone schedules and comes up with a solid long term plan for the project. In other words,
he is the rock that many people on the team lean against and rely on.

What is your passion?

So far, I've been driven by new challenges. Signing up for loosely defined, several years long
projects,
slated for platforms not yet invented is definitely part of the thrill. I'm also a sucker for
aesthetics, and anything that has to do with composition.

What is your background?

I studied movie making and history and ended up as an intern 3D Artist/Level Designer at a small
Swedish
game development studio. You know, the kind that housed a full blown table top game creation studio
in
the basement, while creating pc/console games, an animated tv show and comics on the ground floor,
with
a total staff count of 24. I started at Avalanche Studios as a Level Designer in 2004, took on the
role
of a Technical Artist for four years, and I'm now working in Project Management.

Which games have you worked on?

A couple of Swedish adventure games for children back in the day. At Avalanche Studios, I've been on
Just Cause, Just Cause 2 and Mad Max.

What was your first impression of Avalanche Studios?

On the first day of my employment, I saw Just Cause demoed (pre-pre-alpha code), and I was blown
away.
Primarily by the fact that everyone's passion and dedication truly was represented in the game we
tried
to make. I've since learned that I get to be blown away on a weekly basis.

What do you like about working here?

The people working here, and the attitude we have towards one another. Avalanche's approach of having
a
healthy work/life balance is motivating for me as a developer, but also feels encouraging to me as a
Producer, leading a team. It certainly helps in trying to keep our staff happy, healthy and
motivated as
developers and human beings.

What was your first contact with games?

Ghostbusters on C64. And Bruce Lee. And International Karate. And Exploding Fist. And Boulder Dash.
And Turbo 250. And Outrun.

Which are your favorite games?

I think that Fallout and Fallout 2 made the biggest impression on me throughout the years. But I was
also blown away by Uncharted and Uncharted 2 when they were around.

What are your interests outside of work?

My family and my dogs. I'm an ex-wannabe shepherd and actually used to own livestock. I still live in
a somewhat rural area outside of Stockholm which could totally support that lifestyle if I ever
wanted to take it up again.